Britain’s universal health care system, the National Health Service Corps, was for a very long time a model for the rest of the developed world. It offered free coverage for most medically necessary health care services to everyone in the nation. Then there was Brexit, rising costs, conservative leadership that wanted to privatize the national health service, misleadingly claiming that it was unsustainable, and a government resistance to appropriate enough funds to cover costs. It was on life support.
The New York Times tells the sad story in this opionion video, How Britain Put One of the World’s Best Health Care Systems on Life Support. It is a testament to what a government can do for its people if it chooses to see health care as a human right. It also shows what a government can do to destroy a public good through privatization. In the US, we all know that story.
The story is not so different from what our government has been doing to weaken the Veterans’ Administration, which had provided outstanding low-cost health care coverage to veterans for decades.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- Medicare and Veterans’ benefits: Vets can have both
- VA program offers older veterans care in private homes
- Six tips for keeping your drug costs down if you have Medicare
- Socialized medicine v. incremental improvements
- 2023: Five things to think about when choosing between traditional Medicare and a Medicare Advantage plan
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